Ask Coach Houser: What's a Standing Reach Anyway?

Coach Houser: I play volleyball and the school questionnaire I'm doing is asking what my standing reach , block jump reach,and spike approach is. I'm so confused; I'm 5'6. Can you help?

Here's what you want to know:

Standing Reach

With your feet on the floor, and both arms stretched up the air (like you're blocking flat-footed), how high can you reach?

Average for a high school vball player is probably 7'. If you're a MB, maybe 7'6" (that's about 1" over the net)

Block Jump Reach

Now, do the same as above, but bend your knees then JUMP as high as you can. How high can you reach? The average for a high school vball player: probably 8' 6". If you're a MB maybe 9'. Most girls do the standing and block jump up against a wall where the inches have already been marked on the wall prior to jumping.

Spike Approach Reach

Now, you get to SOAR!!! Now, do your spike approach and measure how high you can jump. This should be the highest of the three. You can try to do this against a wall, but be careful.

Average: 8'10". For a tall girl: 9'. For a freak of nature: 10'.

Many girls know a coach who has a "vertec". Do you know what that is? If not, google it. It's a safe, easy (and expensive haha) way of measuring jumps.

Within 2 Miles

Activities near you will have this indicator

Within 2 Miles

ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.